"That upset needs to be directed to Sacramento"

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said Tuesday that his campus will be admitting as many as 600 fewer "unfunded" California students a year to offset a 20 percent cut from Sacramento. Those slots will instead go to out-of-staters.

The problem is that the state picks up much of the university's cost of educating California students - only it's not paying for as many students as it used to. Nonresidents, on the other hand, pay their own, higher tuitions that actually cover UC's cost of educating them.

Birgeneau said he understands that people will be angry that Berkeley will be freezing out Californians in favor of students from elsewhere. But, he said, "that upset needs to be directed to Sacramento."

UC Berkeley to admit more out-of-state students - Matier and Ross - SF Chronicle